TPO Newsroom

NOAA issues FY25 call for SBIR Phase I proposals

NOAA issues FY25 call for SBIR Phase I proposals

On November 15, 2024, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued its Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 Phase I Notice of Funding Opportunity for the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program. NOAA Phase I SBIR awards provide up to $190,000 to fund a six month period of performance for conducting feasibility and proof of concept research. The tentative award start date for the FY25 competition is August 1, 2025.
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NOAA Office of Research, Transition, and Application (ORTA) Conducts Outreach with NOAA Offices and Local Partners in Gulfport, MS Area

NOAA Office of Research, Transition, and Application (ORTA) Conducts Outreach with NOAA Offices and Local Partners in Gulfport, MS Area

The NOAA Office of Research, Transition, and Application (ORTA) – including representation from the Technology Partnerships Office, Director’s Office, and Office of Science Support – participated in an offsite workshop from March 19-21, 2023 which included informational exchanges/briefings at various NOAA facilities in the Gulfport, MS area, as well as meetings with other external partners.
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Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory: 50 years of innovative research in oceanography

Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory: 50 years of innovative research in oceanography

Recently, NOAA celebrated the 50th anniversary of its Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, a world leader in oceanographic research and the development of innovative instrumentation and measurement strategies for monitoring and observing ocean conditions at global scales. This special issue of Oceanography Magazine celebrates this milestone, and includes stories on Saildrone (pg 70), DART (pg 186), and MAPR (pg 212) which connect directly to the NOAA Technology Partnerships Office.
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Michael Kruk joins NOAA TPO as Deputy Director

Michael Kruk joins NOAA TPO as Deputy Director

Michael (Mike) Kruk has joined the NOAA Technology Partnerships Office as the new Deputy Director. Mike previously served as the Chief of the Coastal Science Branch at NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) within the Coasts, Oceans, and Geophysics Science (COGS) division. In his new role as Deputy Director, Mike is responsible for leading the execution of the strategic direction of TPO and overseeing the efficient functioning of the office.
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Biden-Harris Administration invests $3.9 million for Ocean-based Climate Resilience Accelerators through Investing in America agenda

Biden-Harris Administration invests $3.9 million for Ocean-based Climate Resilience Accelerators through Investing in America agenda

The Department of Commerce and NOAA announced $3.9 million in awards to help small businesses improve climate resilience in communities across the nation through the Ocean-based Climate Resilience Accelerators program as part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, and in alignment with the National Climate Resilience Framework.
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Meet Your Board: Derek Parks

Meet Your Board: Derek Parks

NOAA Technology Partnerships Office Commercialization and Business Analyst Derek Parks is featured in this Federal Laboratories Consortium series that highlights Executive Board members, who are responsible for carrying out the organization’s mandated mission to promote, educate, and facilitate federal technology transfer.
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Kristen Schepel: Changing the climate for innovation

Kristen Schepel: Changing the climate for innovation

This year, Kristen Schepel from NOAA’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory is participating in an employee exchange (known as a detail) with the U.S Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in Washington, D.C. Her assignment: Help patent examiners and others at the USPTO understand climate change and the need for innovations that can help predict and measure its impacts. In this Q&A interview, she talks about her project and discusses the ways that patents could be important to climate change work.
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NOAA issues FY24 call for SBIR Phase I proposals

NOAA issues FY24 call for SBIR Phase I proposals

On September 28, 2023, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued its Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 Phase I Notice of Funding Opportunity for the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program. NOAA Phase I SBIR awards provide up to $175,000 to fund a six month period of performance for conducting feasibility and proof of concept research. The tentative award start date for the FY24 competition is June 1, 2024.
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Jennifer Stewart joins NOAA TPO as Technology Transfer Specialist

Jennifer Stewart joins NOAA TPO as Technology Transfer Specialist

Jennifer Stewart has joined the NOAA Technology Partnerships Office as the new Technology Transfer Specialist. In her role at TPO, Jennifer will work to maximize the impact of taxpayer investments in NOAA’s R&D, drawing from expertise in areas including innovation discovery, technology road mapping, intellectual property management, patent licensing, and cooperative research and development agreements.
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NOAA invests $16M in small business innovation

NOAA invests $16M in small business innovation

The NOAA Small Business Innovation Research Program has awarded approximately $16 million in grants to 47 U.S. small businesses. This seed funding will support research and development of innovative technologies across NOAA’s mission. The winning proposals span multiple research topic areas, including climate change adaptation and mitigation, coastal resilience, and extreme weather events, among others. This year, 30 companies were each awarded up to $175,000 in Phase I startup capital to test the feasibility of their proposed technologies over the next 6 months. Small businesses were selected to receive funding based on the scientific and technical merit, level of innovation,…
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Patenting innovation in climate science

Patenting innovation in climate science

Parikha Mehta has spent the last four months focused on the intersection of intellectual property and climate and environmental technologies while on an employee exchange (known as a detail) at NOAA from the U.S Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Her goal: Help researchers understand the importance of protecting their inventions so that NOAA’s research and technology can better serve the public and inspire future innovation.
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Revolutionary NOAA High-Altitude Research Tool Passes Key Milestone

Revolutionary NOAA High-Altitude Research Tool Passes Key Milestone

The quest by Global Monitoring Laboratory scientists to develop a reliable, cost-effective way to study Earth’s stratosphere passed a significant milestone on May 17 when a remotely controlled glider, carried to an elevation of 90,000 feet by a weather balloon, returned to its launch location on Colorado’s Pawnee National Grasslands with its scientific payload intact.
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NOAA – Microsoft CRADA partnership

NOAA – Microsoft CRADA partnership

NOAA and Microsoft have forged a formal agreement to harness Microsoft’s cloud computing tools and help advance NOAA’s mission to create a Climate-Ready Nation. As scientific research is called upon to inform solutions for some of society’s most pressing challenges, public-private partnerships unlock enormous potential for collaborative problem-solving and innovation.
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NCEI and WHOI Begin Research Collaboration

NCEI and WHOI Begin Research Collaboration

NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution have established a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement to share high-quality oceanic data collected from the National Science Foundation-funded Ocean Observatories Initiative’s instrument arrays. The goal of the partnership is to archive and deliver the initiative’s data for continued research on ocean processes.
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Applications open for NOAA Applied Technology Program Specialist

Applications open for NOAA Applied Technology Program Specialist

The NOAA Technology Partnerships Office seeks to hire an Applied Technology Program Specialist, The Specialist will encourage the timely disclosure of innovative technologies by NOAA labs; oversee intellectual property protections and technology transfer; develop strategic partnerships between NOAA and industry, academia, other government agencies, and the general public; manage licensing agreements; and perform statistical analysis of technology transfer and cooperative research and development activity. Applications will be accepted through February 13.  For Federal applicants, see this USAJOBS posting for full job description and application instructions:https://www.usajobs.gov/job/702801100#summary For non-Federal applicants, see this USAJOBS posting for full job description and application instructions:https://www.usajobs.gov/job/702801400#hiring-paths Note:…
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NOAA scientists receive Technology Transfer award

NOAA scientists receive Technology Transfer award

A NOAA-led team of scientists will be recognized at this year’s 2022 Governor’s Awards for High Impact Research event on December 14 in Denver, Colorado. The event is sponsored by CO-LABS and will honor NOAA and CIRES award recipients for both the Pathfinder Partnership and Technology Transfer award categories. The Technology Transfer Award recognizes research that resulted in a technological solution with widespread and measurable societal use, with related impact on a global challenge or issue. This year’s recipients developed a first-of-a-kind Whole Atmosphere Model and Ionosphere Plasmasphere Electrodynamics Model (WAM-IPE), which allows forecasters to provide better information to the public about…
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NOAA issues FY23 call for Phase I SBIR proposals

NOAA issues FY23 call for Phase I SBIR proposals

On December 2, 2022 the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued its Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 Phase I Notice of Funding Opportunity for the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program. NOAA Phase I SBIR awards provide up to $175,000, which funds a six month period of performance for conducting feasibility and proof of concept research. The tentative award start date for the FY23 competition is August 1, 2023.
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A NOAA-funded startup innovates for social good

A NOAA-funded startup innovates for social good

A small company with big ideas delivers solutions to non-technical and tech-savvy users As the catastrophic Colorado wildfires of late 2020 burned out of control, a small company based in Fort Collins, Colorado, decided to use the event as a rare opportunity to test a brand-new technology. At the time, Access Sensor Technologies was developing a modernized air quality monitoring station, using early-stage funding they received from the NOAA Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program.
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NOAA SBIR helps small business find traction and long-term success

NOAA SBIR helps small business find traction and long-term success

Sometimes success comes with time and perseverance, but an early boost can make all the difference – especially when it comes to a small company’s chances of getting off the ground. When small business owner Vincent Kelly, founder and director of Green Eyes, LLC, was asked what his company gained from its participation in the NOAA Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program, his response hit a key note. “Here I am, some fifteen years later, and the business is standing on its own and doing reasonably well. That would not have happened without our NOAA SBIR funding.”
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NOAA supports small businesses to fuel technology innovation

NOAA supports small businesses to fuel technology innovation

NOAA has invested in 23 small businesses developing innovative technologies in technical areas including climate adaptation and mitigation, weather-ready nation, healthy oceans, and resilient coastal communities and economies. These grants were awarded under the agency’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program, and total over nearly $3.4 million.
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Eruption highlights how NOAA technological innovation powers public safety, economic development, and scientific discovery

Eruption highlights how NOAA technological innovation powers public safety, economic development, and scientific discovery

When a volcano in the South Pacific Ocean erupted in January 2022, NOAA researchers were well-equipped to study the multi-hazard event by sky and by sea. Key technologies and strategic partnerships made it possible for NOAA to issue warnings that saved lives around the world, while also collecting scientific data that will improve forecasting models and disaster response for future events.
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Partnership to advance ecosystem models, water level predictions

Partnership to advance ecosystem models, water level predictions

Collaboration designed to improve response to coastal climate risks. NOAA and climate analytics company, Jupiter Intelligence, signed a formal agreement to advance understanding of coastal ecosystems, precipitation and water level predictions. The goal of the partnership is to support community response to coastal risks to mitigate effects of climate change...
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SBIR Partner Expanding Access to NOAA Data

SBIR Partner Expanding Access to NOAA Data

Geocollaborate Tool is improving situational awareness and decision making across many economic and government sectors We are exposed to a wide variety of extreme weather events, such as wildfires, floods, earthquakes, severe storms, and volcanic eruptions. Natural hazards turn into disasters when lives are lost and livelihoods are damaged or destroyed. Some hazards, whether manmade or natural, become catastrophic disasters or large scale mass casualty events, which bring entire regions to a standstill.
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Exploring the Pacific Arctic Seasonal Ice Zone With Saildrone USVs

Exploring the Pacific Arctic Seasonal Ice Zone With Saildrone USVs

NOAA PMEL researchers sent ocean drones to the U.S. Arctic to test their remote navigation capabilities close to ice and to collect data on Arctic weather, climate, and ecosystems. The saildrones were equipped to observe oceanic and atmospheric variables that are needed to estimate air-sea fluxes of heat, momentum, and carbon dioxide. Comparing Saildrone data to data obtained through existing collection methods allowed researchers to identify ways to improve ice navigation in the future.
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NOAA issues FY22 call for Phase I SBIR proposals

NOAA issues FY22 call for Phase I SBIR proposals

On November 16, 2021 the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued its Fiscal Year (FY) 22 Phase I Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. NOAA Phase I SBIR awards provide up to $150,000 with up to a six (6) month period of performance for conducting feasibility and proof of concept research with a tentative award start date of August 1, 2022. NOAA encourages proposals from qualified small businesses for highly innovative technologies with strong commercial potential that fit within the NOAA mission areas.
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Small Company Thrives on Commercialization of NOAA’s Miniaturized Particle Spectrometer

Small Company Thrives on Commercialization of NOAA’s Miniaturized Particle Spectrometer

POPS is a low-cost, high-sensitivity alternative to traditional aerosol measurement technologies. For many people, hiking is a peaceful escape from everyday stressors. For Dr. Ping Chen, CEO of Handix Scientific Inc., hiking was a starting point of his success. In 2015, he met NOAA inventor and research physicist, Dr. Ru-Shan Gao, on a trail in Boulder, Colorado. As they walked, Gao proudly spoke about NOAA’s recently-developed Portable Optical Particle Spectrometer (POPS) for aerosol measurement. Chen immediately realized the technology’s tremendous potential and expressed interest in licensing and commercializing the technology with a firm belief that POPS was going to be a…
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These 5 technologies are helping save our ocean

These 5 technologies are helping save our ocean

Protecting and exploring our global ocean is a huge job: It covers more than 70 percent of Earth’s surface. Cutting-edge technologies help us dive deeper, gather more ocean data and solve some of its biggest challenges. Here are 5 innovative high-tech tools borne from NOAA’s partnerships with the fishing industry and technology companies large and small.
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NOAA Awarded U.S. Patent for Innovative Lionfish Trap

NOAA Awarded U.S. Patent for Innovative Lionfish Trap

Device could help protect threatened ecosystems and aid fishing communities The Challenge Over the last 20 years, invasive lionfish populations have dramatically increased throughout the western Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean Sea. Lionfish have already caused a decline in native species that have significant ecological, cultural, and commercial value. Further impacts on coral reefs and other important ecosystems are anticipated, but not yet fully understood. Fortunately, as the threat of lionfish has intensified, so too have the levels of awareness and concern among not just scientists and fishers, but among members of the public. In recent years, state-sponsored…
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New technology uses NOAA data to provide faster disaster warnings

New technology uses NOAA data to provide faster disaster warnings

Mayday.ai applies artificial intelligence to NOAA satellite imagery to detect natural disasters, starting with wildfires Story originally published on Environmental News Network In 2017, as Kian Mirshahi watched wildfires rage across his home state of California, he wondered if there might be a way to get real-time information to first responders and citizens to help coordinate actions on the ground. More specifically, he wondered if Artificial Intelligence, or AI, might provide a key to faster decision-making. Fortunately, NOAA had recently rolled out two major developments, which provided the fuel for Mirshahi’s innovative drive. In 2016 and 2018, NOAA launched two…
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